Wales needs the BBC

The lessons of the Hutton Inquiry pose particular dangers and challenges for Wales - a nation in which the BBC is an even more dominant player than in the UK as a whole, argues Chris Lines, chief executive of the Welsh Liberal Democrats

The lessons of the Hutton Inquiry pose particular dangers and challenges for Wales - a nation in which the BBC is an even more dominant player than in the UK as a whole, argues Chris Lines, chief executive of the Welsh Liberal Democrats

Our newspapers are rightly holding the BBC to account in the aftermath of the Hutton Report, with headlines about wails, turmoil and crisis and stories of resignations, grave journalistic errors and poor editorial practice.

What is quite astounding about the coverage of the BBC's failings is that the BBC itself is reporting the story as openly as the rest of the UK media.

What other broadcaster in the world would be able to tell us of its own problems so directly and objectively?

It is this objectivity and its freedom from commercial interest which is such a strength. It is this journalistic independence which has engendered the trust and admiration held by so many people across the world.

But, with trust comes power. And the reason that Lord Hutton was appointed in the first place was because of the power of the BBC's broadcasts, in particular a short piece at 6.07am by Andrew Gilligan on the Radio 4 Today programme.

There can't be many journalists who, if put under the kind of scrutiny Andrew Gilligan faced from the Hutton Inquiry, wouldn't be found wanting.

The nature of the allegation - that the Government lied to the country in order to go to war - is about as serious as you could get. But, would the Government have been so angry if it had been made by some scribbler on the Daily Mail?

It was the power that comes from an organisation as well respected as the BBC that worried Alastair Campbell and his masters. People were likely to believe what it broadcast. What is more, the Today programme has a tendency to set the day's news agenda, so the same allegation would be repeated endlessly on the BBC's many, many channels - followed up by other broadcasters and print journalists.

This power is immense. In Wales, it is greater still.

At least in London there is a mass of media - newspapers, TV and radio stations - all competing with each other and ready to rubbish each other's stories if the facts don't bear them out.

In Wales, BBC Cymru Wales is the dominant and domineering media force. It employs more journalists reporting politics than all the other Welsh media put together.

HTV Wales - with ever-increasing commercial pressures - valiantly maintains a presence across Wales. The Western Mail and the Daily Post carry the burden of national political coverage in Welsh newspapers. And they do so almost as a rearguard, as 85% of the morning papers sold in Wales are London-based and, more importantly, England-orientated.

But a Government facing a week of threats has emerged strengthened while, by getting it wrong this time, and by losing at a stroke its Dyke-Davies leadership, the BBC is suddenly vulnerable.

For these reasons, Wales has particular grounds for making sure that the independence of the BBC is maintained. We have a particular interest in its accuracy; on the BBC uncovering the stories and getting them right. The Government must resist the temptation to tear the BBC apart - and the BBC must make sure it gets its reporting right.

If Wales is to mature as a democracy and if our civic society is to engage in the issues we face, we need a vibrant and competing media to report and comment on them.

We are a long way from getting such a media. In the meantime, we depend disproportionately on BBC Cymru Wales as one of Wales' strongest institutions.